Dauntless07

I see. I was not aware that method of movement was still possible. The experience has much improved with that knowledge.

I’m not sure what you mean by “bulk orders”. Can you explain how, because I couldn’t find a way to issue commands to groups of units outside the General’s command radius at all. (Well, I did find an exploit where I can order distant units to occupy fortifications, and they instantly obey, but I’m pretty sure that was unintended.) What you said makes me think I haven’t been commanding as intended.

Very interesting reading, and interesting developments since the last time I played this mod. I have a few ideas for improvement. To nitpick, sprites of the dead look weird, and a few still seem too big, (like the train in the Union tutorial.) I understand if this is an engine limitation though. Also, initial units should probably be scaled down to match the Regiment-level vision, (especially since disbanding them manually no longer yields a manpower return.) The big issue is micro management. It seems unreasonable to require the Corps General to issue direct orders to every unit. I know I can still draw a path, but that method is rather slow and tedious. I still think this should be an option however, as historical Generals (Albert Sydney Johnston) sometimes lead in this manner. Here are my ideas: 1. Make the first Regiment of a Brigade a pseudo General unit, similar to the Union cavalry that appears in 1st Bull Run. 2. (Alternative) Re-enable direct orders without the General, but delay their reception by how distant that Regiment is from others in the same Brigade. Either option would incentivize Regiments to stick together, and perhaps these orders can still be potentially ignored, depending on the Regiment officer’s traits. Just some friendly suggestions, if practical to implement.

No, I haven’t tried the new algorithm. I keep my eye on this this thread for the official update: didn’t even occur to me to ask for the unofficial one. I just had the idea out of the blue, found the result interesting, and shared it.

Quick follow-up on my July 4th post, I tried something drastic today. I disbanded my entire army, except my 2 star brigades, and... scaling went way down. I don't think the game is supposed to function this way, correct me if I'm wrong, since I can't actually bring my entire army to minor battles: not even close.

I've PMed you my Ironman save pre-Iuka, if that is of any help.

I'd like to report a bug, I think.... So, I finally got around to fighting the Rebels at Antietam on normal difficulty, and I took the chance to make my army as big as possible to kill off as much of the upscaled enemy army as possible. So, I move on to the Fredericksburg Campaign, and decide to fight Iuka, as this is normally an easy battle in the base game. The pre-battle enemy army numbers give me no reason to doubt it will be any different. But this time, the enemy army sallies out to confront me. Great, I can destroy them even more easily now! But then... I realize things are not as I believed they were. I soon realize I am facing an enemy force 3 times my strength, and rather than attacking, am forced to defend the wood line. All in vain though. At this rate, I'll be wiped out before the enemy, and opt to leave the field. I'm understandably taken aback, as I thought I'd be facing a numerically inferior force. The pre-battle screen has never lied to me before. Any idea what happened here?

Thank you for reverting Ironman by the way. While it’s an interesting idea, I think it’s only viable for the most hardcore players. I was unable to get past Antietam, because I had built a big 65K Union Army, and with how much slower this gameplay is, I just don’t have time to kill 45k Rebels in one sitting. Saving between phases is much more do-able. Also, I haven’t memorized the order of battle in every engagement, so moments like the initial Rebel onslaught at 2nd Bull Run went poorly for me, simply because I didn’t know I’d only get my first 2 brigades, and had made one of them an artillery brigade. (Mercifully, the charging bug actually saved me this time from an utter rout, lol.)

This is an amazing mod, and I want to stress it’s far more than I’ll ever contribute to this game. I’d love to do a proper review, but there are a couple of oddities I don’t think were intended as part of the experience, and I’d like to ask about some of them. -Battle smoke is immersive... when it works. Sometimes, I only get vanilla smoke, other times the entire battlefield is saturated with it, and I can’t even see the terrain. Are the smoke effects intended to be played at 1x speed? I gather you’ve already put a lot of time into it, so smoke at other speeds may not be possible. -The current melee with arty freezing the battle bug, I’ve experienced a few times now, and with Ironman mode, it’s a major issue. I understand you got a patch for the next update though, so I’ll put this lower on the list. -I must say that skirmisher sharpshooters are unbelievably overpowered. When I prefer to field one skirmisher regiment over 2 artillery batteries, I know they’re crazy good. Their default reload is lightning fast compared to line infantry, I legitimately wonder if this is a bug. At their current strength, regiments numbering greater than 150 aren’t warranted IMO. -Why is the artillery so expensive to shoot when it gets barely any kills? All it makes me want to do is turn off resupply for artillery entirely, and that doesn’t seem historical. -The J&P perks don’t suit your mod very well. Take Infantry for example. Bayonet charges are (as historically) no longer death incarnate, but it makes the charge bonus perks far less powerful. Movement and rotation speed perks were useful for J&P players fielding cumbersome brigades of 4000 men, but they too are pointless now that we’re at the Regimental level. Accuracy then is the only tree worth going down, which hurts replay ability. Maybe if the melee and speed perks were merged into one, I would consider taking it, but that’s just an idea I haven’t thought through. I eagerly await your next version, so I hope you aren’t turned off by the criticism. -I love what you did with the cosmetics, (more sprites and smaller + proper smoke.) -The vision mechanics, (I felt like a general riding back and fourth across the battle line to see the things I needed to see, when my general was often forgotten far in the rear before.) -The armory (Not sure how much of this was J&P, but some of the stats seemed different from when I last played through that mod, so I thought maybe you tweaked some of it, and I am impressed by the historical accuracy of weapon performance.) -And of course, the Regimental-level redesign of Army Organization, (more historical army sizes, no more superhero brigades that charge in, best 2 enemy brigades, and charge on to wipe the artillery as well.) I only wish everything on the camp screen was renamed to match it.

Ah, I did indeed play a melee focused Union. That’s probably the reason; melee does indeed do a lot of damage when you get charged. Yes, I meant Division commanders. I forgot the levels of Army Organization. My 1st Corps got the bayonet training. The 2nd Corps focused on fire, (both with 2000 brigades,) but the 3rd Corps I filled with 4000 strong brigades, and I gave them all the speed/rotation buff. (I wanted to test all the 2 star buffs.) I planned to send the 3rd in first to overun breastworks, but ended up using it to do the most of the fighting, since they tanked way better than my fragile 1st/2nd, especially in melee. By the time I stormed Richmond, the 1st Corps was wrecked, most Brigades being under 1000 men after the day 1 bloodbath, and storming just 1 fort on day 2. It was up to the 3rd to take the city.

I won. Once I found the most effective weapons, (and got past that tutorial level,) it was super easy. I only ever lost the levels that take away the Army I built, and replace it with a predetermined and crappy outnumbered one. (I have always hated that about the campaign in general.) Final thoughts, infantry are too weak at shooting. I understand you wanted to portray melee as more important, (as it was,) but shooting is practically a waste of time without all the perks and the best guns, while a charging rookie brigade is now very dangerous. So, it basically skews the inaccuracy in the opposite direction. It's kind-of ridiculous to see a 4000 strong brigade equipped with 1863 Springfields kill only a couple dozen enemies with a volley at point-blank range, even if they are rookies. The attrition rate on corp commanders is atrocious for whatever reason, (maybe because they are under fire for far longer by the weak gunfire? IDK.) Generals are not worth their now exorbitant price, as they die, die, and die. I think they would actually be safer commanding single brigades than they are over corps. I got by just fine placing Colonels in command of everything instead, even with corps of five 4000 strong brigades. The small efficiency drop was negligible so long as they had good guns. But hey, maybe the game has always been like this, and I just didn't notice because Generals were cheap. I struggled to find much use for cannons, excepting 6 lb field, 12/24 lb howitzers, 10 lb ordinance/Parrot, and 14 lb James. (Can't attest to the ones Confederate exclusive.) Everything else felt useless due to their high cost, slow reloads, marginally higher damage and range, but far worse accuracy to take any advantage of said traits. In other words, it's more or less the same as vanilla, at least, it wasn't clear to me at what each gun was supposedly good at. The guns end up being more powerful only by virtue of muskets being terrible at shooting. I can't deny it was fun, but is this better than vanilla? Well, I'd say even though the pathetic shooting is annoying, the mod has far more to offer than vanilla, like multiple viable army specializations, and compelling reason to invest in career traits other than Politics and Medicine. I did experience substantial lag and CTDs in major battles, but that's the trade off for so many sprites on screen.

x03c7dsh.kq2 Brock Road. Loaded it again, and no crash.

Just had another crash, and I have the save. It occurred about 1 minute after. What do you need exactly, and what directories are they in?

I don't actually, I was saving every 10 minutes or so, and almost all of the crashes happened on Day 2. A similar crash occurred in the follow-up battle of Bayou Fourche. This time, it happened after I captured a unit of skirmishers with some cavalry. Anyway, I suspect it'll probably occur in Chickamauga, so I'll follow-up with the save file if it does.

Remember me? Well, I'm back. Been busy, but finally had time to fight through the Battle of Gettysburg. I experienced 5 or 6 CTDs during the Battle of Gettysburg, they seemed related to when reinforcements arrived, but I can't say I know how to replicate them. I eventually got through by saving every 10 minutes or so, very odd. Noticed another small issue, that capturing and holding the rebel position on the 3rd day of battle doesn't result in victory. It's not a big deal, since I can just end the battle at the start of day 4, but it was a minor annoyance. Honestly, this is likely more the fault of the developers implementing false objectives than a bug on your part.

Having fought past Stones River, here's my impressions to far. *I love the revamp of the Career Points. There's finally a reason to invest in areas besides Politics and Medicine. I feel like Politics may still be too OP. It giving recruits, money, and government points just makes it way too good to pass. I can't deny though, starting with 6 in training was helpful in its own ways. *I love the revamp of perks. Seriously, who's going to bother picking anything besides "Infantry" for every major general's perk in vanilla? This is much better. *I love the devastating potential of a well executed charge. In vanilla, melee was the one statistic I found impossible to farm due to its high attrition, and redundant to attempt since it was cheaper and just as effective to field rookies with melee guns instead. Now, with some skill, a player can do a lot of damage in melee without taking too much in turn. *I love the new artillery cone. It's so useful, since I can clearly see the range for each type of shot. This alone would make vanilla much better. *I like the standardization of weapons in terms of range. I get what you're going for, generally speaking max range for artillery was anything you could see, a little less for smoothbore guns. Modern imported rifles were just as effective as S1861s, there was no linear progression of bad to good rifles like in vanilla. the standardized melee of rifles to 60 or 80 is a lot easier to follow. As far as I know, the only factors that might affect melee in reality are length of the rifle obviously, (mostly standard,) and the type of bayonet. (Sword-style ones can incorporate situational slash attacks.) It also improves the general gameplay. Giving the Union arbitrarily terrible melee guns in vanilla seemed like a cheat to make the campaign harder than it should have been. It's nice to have at least 1 great melee rifle in each game stage, even if it's hard to get lots of them. *Damage makes less sense to me. 6.5 damage on a S1855, but jumps all the way to 9 on the S1861? Seems odd considering they are the same caliber; what am I missing here? 6 Pounders are utterly overpowered. I see little indication it is "rapidly becoming obsolete" when it's fire rate of 80 is 1.33x faster than the Napoleon's 60 while having the same range, damage, and ammo characteristics. Not sure what the "collateral damage" statistic describes, but it seems to be the Napoleon's only advantage. I've slaughtered thousands with "obsolete" 6 Pounders. *I dislike the high attrition of corps officers. So far, I've had only 1 Colonel survive to be promoted to BG, and I'm past Stones River! I understand if they're leading a brigade directly and get hit often sure, but that no one else survived proves to me that investing in expensive leaders who will be killed before 2 major battles pass is just a waste. Maybe it's historical? IDK, but I still ain't paying for it. That's all for now. I rate this at least 3x better than the vanilla experience. GJ!

I'm experiencing a persistent CTD around Parker's Crossroads in my Union Campaign. It started with a CTD some time after my reinforcements got there, but now, I get a CTD shortly after clicking the button that starts the battle, and once, I even got a CTD swapping between the battle select screen and the army camp. If there's a log anywhere that can offer more information on what's happening, let me know. EDIT: odd, I just attempted it again, and got through without incident. I've saved prior to the battle, but can progress for now.

I have played BG up to Shiloh now, and I think this mod is pretty cool. I still haven’t learned the intricacies of the gun balance, but I notice rifles are far less powerful. It’s better to sit under fire to recover condition and charge than to trade fire, bizarre to say. Artillery support is crucial to breakthrough, but some cannons are extremely rare. Napoleons and 6 Pounders seem like the way to go early game. I don’t get which officers to use. Getting a general to lead Divisions is prohibitively expensive, and I got unlucky, losing both high ranking Colonels in those commands, in the Shiloh campaign. I’m trying to field a 3k rookie brigade with muskets, but only gave them a Major since no officer is good enough to lead them. I never got how the Efficiency stat affected shooting and melee in vanilla. Can anyone explain it?

I have beaten the vanilla game on MG, that’s why I went looking for a new challenge, just not the way Legendary Mode does it, (by cheating.) I dropped the difficulty to BG, and it worked like a charm: I took the town easily. When I finally got to army management, I realized playing on MG would have been hell. Guns and Officers are expensive now, like really expensive! True, we also get more money, but I’ve no doubt it is not enough to beat the game on MG. Thanks to all those offering advice, but I think that result screen speaks for itself. I did take advantage of options available to me, but the bottom line is there isn’t time to use some of the strategies suggested. For one, 12 pounder napoleons do not have the range or accuracy to deal with artillery batteries in heavy cover. They will also quickly exhaust their and the wagon’s ammo before sufficiently damaging the brigades waiting on the opposite side of the river, though since it’s impossible to assault a river defended by so many brigades, (after I cut off several from making it across,) you have to try. Add in the necessity to take the town quickly, and the player is left with no option but to rush across into rifle and canister fire. If you managed to pull that off in time by some miracle, then good for you, but let’s not pretend an average, (even skilled,) player could win it their first try without being very lucky.

I see there is already discussion about the scaling, and I don't want to be rude, but it really is too much. What I want to know is how you guys got to even Shiloh on MG as Union. This is mission 1 of my MG campaign... and it's over. A real shame. I managed to assault the river and take the town, only to immediately find Rebel reinforcements the size of the army I'd just defeated. when they all charged in, there was nothing my exhausted guys could do, and 2 Brigades immediately surrendered. I was excited for the better designed campaign I read about in the OP, but something I can't stand is artificial difficulty by being outnumbered more than 2:1 from the start. It is not historical, (especially in a Union campaign,) or fun. I hope the scaling is less pronounced on lower difficulties, but I'm out of gaming time ATM, and wanted to get my first impressions out there. If it's as ridiculous as this, I don't think the mod will be for me.